Secret texts and cipherballots: secret suffrage and remote electronic voting

Una de les principals preocupacions sobre el vot telemàtic és com preservar el sufragi secret. La llista d’estudis que afirmen que el vot per Internet és incompatible amb el secret del vot és força extensa. Si bé estudis posteriors sobre experiències reals han tingut resultats més matisats, les preocupacions sobre el sufragi secret i el vot telemàtic es mantenen. Abordar aquestes preocupacions esdevé una obligació ineludible. En aquest context, la nostra recerca és novadora. En primer lloc, el nostre punt de partida no es basa en definicions legals preexistents que s'accepten com a donades. Partint de l'enfocament universalista del dret constitucional comparat, hem entès que el principi del sufragi secret transcendeix les opinions i convencions lligades a comunitats polítiques concretes. Aquesta concepció comú i bàsica s'ha traduït en tres estàndards: individualitat, confidencialitat i anonimat. Aquests estàndards s’han de satisfer en qualsevol canal de votació. En segon lloc, hem adoptat un enfocament més ampli en l’aplicació d’aquest principi al vot telemàtic. Hem demostrat que el sufragi secret es pot garantir mitjançant la llei, el codi informàtic, les normes i fins i tot el mercat. La normativa actual tendeix a ser limitada perquè recorre a analogies amb els canals de votació en paper i no reconeix les especificitats del vot telemàtic. Per contra, aquí hem examinat el paper que exerceixen (i les limitacions pròpies) del xifrat asimètric, l'anonimització basada en mix-nets o el recompte homomòrfic, i el vot múltiple.Una de las principales preocupaciones sobre el voto telemático es cómo garantizar el secreto del voto. La lista de autores que afirman que el voto por Internet es incompatible con el sufragio secreto es considerable. Aunque las conclusiones de estudios posteriores sobre experiencias reales hayan sido más matizadas, las preocupaciones sobre el sufragio secreto y el voto telemático se mantienen. Abordar estas preocupaciones constituye en una obligación ineludible. En este contexto, nuestra investigación es novedosa. En primer lugar, nuestro punto de partida no se basa en definiciones legales preexistentes que se aceptan como dadas. Partiendo del enfoque universalista del derecho constitucional comparado, hemos entendido que el principio del sufragio secreto trasciende las opiniones y convenciones ligadas a la cultura de comunidades políticas concretas. Esta concepción se ha traducido en tres normas: individualidad, confidencialidad y anonimato. Estas normas deberían aplicarse a cualquier canal de votación. En segundo lugar, hemos adoptado un enfoque más amplio sobre la aplicación de este principio. Hemos demostrado que el sufragio secreto puede garantizarse mediante la ley, el código, las normas e incluso el mercado. La normativa actual tiende a ser limitada porque recurre a analogías con los canales de votación en papel y no reconoce las especificidades del voto telemático.One of the key concerns about remote electronic voting is how to preserve secret suffrage. The list of authors who claim that Internet voting is incompatible with the secrecy of the vote is actually quite long. Even if later studies that analysed the actual implementation of remote electronic voting in public political elections had more nuanced findings, concerns about secret suffrage and remote electronic voting remain. Addressing these concerns becomes an inescapable obligation. In this context, our research is quite novel. First and foremost, our starting point is not based on pre-existing legal definitions that are accepted as given. Drawing from the universalist approach to comparative constitutional law, we have understood that the principle of secret suffrage exists in such a way that it transcends the culture bound opinions and conventions of particular political communities. This core understanding has been translated into three standards: individuality, confidentiality, and anonymity. These standards should apply to any voting channel. Second, we have taken a wider approach at the enforcement of this principle. We have showed that secret suffrage may be enforced through law, code, norms, and even the market. Current regulations tend to be constrained because they resort to analogies with paper-based voting channels and fail to acknowledge the specificities of remote electronic voting. In contrast, we have examined the role played by (and the limitations of) asymmetric encryption, anonymization based on mix-nets or homomorphic tallying, and of multiple voting to enforce secret suffrage

Investigation of Voting Systems for the WPI Faculty

The Committee on Governance tasked the team with examining options for moving the election process for faculty committees to a web-based, electronic system to simplify the counting process. We identified issues important to voting in small community elections, paying special attention to WPI’s specific requirements. Using that knowledge, we created a set of criteria for evaluating a proposed system\u27s suitability for WPI faculty elections. Using the results of these evaluations we provide concrete steps to improve faculty elections

E-voting discourses in the UK and the Netherlands

A qualitative case study of the e-voting discourses in the UK and the Netherlands was performed based on the theory of strategic niche management. In both countries, eight e-voting experts were interviewed on their expectations, risk estimations, cooperation and learning experiences. The results show that differences in these variables can partly explain the variations in the embedding of e-voting in the two countries, from a qualitative point of view

Internet voting in Australian election systems

This paper explores how internet voting could offer potential improvements in the way elections are managed and delivered in Australia. Aims The issue of internet voting is one of the more testing ones currently faced by election administrators, not least because of the diversity of views which it generates. Proponents of such a use of the internet see it as a potentially powerful, and perhaps inevitable, way of enabling electors, or certain categories of electors, to vote in a convenient and efficient way. In the long term, it holds out the revolutionary prospect that the classical vision of direct democracy could be realised, with voters being able to make fast collective decisions on a wide range of issues. Opponents of internet voting see it as giving rise to major risks to the integrity of electoral processes. There is a large and rapidly growing literature on the subject. The aims of this paper are: to explore a range of significant issues relevant to community consideration of the appropriate role for internet voting in Australia; and to identify some areas where internet voting may have potential value (subject to the satisfactory resolution of outstanding technical issues and a determination that any residual risks can be mitigated or deemed acceptable), and therefore to warrant more detailed consideration

Democracy in Decline: Can Internet Voting Save the Electoral Process?, 22 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 409 (2004)

Voter confidence that votes are accurately cast, counted, and kept are at an all time low. The traditional methods of voting has proven itself time and time again to be untrustworthy and unreliable, as evidenced recently in the 2000 presidential elections. The time is now ripe to thoroughly investigate alternative methods of casting ballots as a way to restore voter confidence in the electoral system. Using the Internet to assist the electoral system has emerged as a potential option in order to remedy many defects within the electoral process. However, Internet voting is untested and less transparent than traditional voting even though Internet voting offers the promise of many benefits, such as preventing over-votes, reducing invalid votes, and increasing participation in the electoral process. This article evaluates the ability of Internet voting to improve the electoral process by comparing it against traditional methods of voting currently used. As part of the background necessary to understand electoral issues, a description of the criteria for a successful election is provided. The article also introduces and defines the different forms of Internet voting as used in the context of the article. The article reviews and substantially discredits the perceived problems with implementing Internet voting. Finally, several proposals are set forth in order to gradually introduce Internet voting into the mainstream of the electoral system

Computational aspects of voting: a literature survey

Preference aggregation is a topic of study in different fields such as philosophy, mathematics, economics and political science. Recently, computational aspects of preference aggregation have gained especial attention and “computational politics” has emerged as a marked line of research in computer science with a clear concentration on voting protocols. The field of voting systems, rooted in social choice theory, has expanded notably in both depth and breadth in the last few decades. A significant amount of this growth comes from studies concerning the computational aspects of voting systems. This thesis comprehensively reviews the work on voting systems (from a computing perspective) by listing, classifying and comparing the results obtained by different researchers in the field. This survey covers a wide range of new and historical results yet provides a profound commentary on related work as individual studies and in relation to other related work and to the field in general. The deliverables serve as an overview where students and novice researchers in the field can start and also as a depository that can be referred to when searching for specific results. A comprehensive literature survey of the computational aspects of voting is a task that has not been undertaken yet and is initially realized here. Part of this research was dedicated to creating a web-depository that contains material and references related to the topic based on the survey. The purpose was to create a dynamic version of the survey that can be updated with latest findings and as an online practical reference